The present disclosure relates generally devices and methods for supporting and manipulating a patient's leg during surgery (e.g., hip joint surgery) and for diagnostic analysis of the leg (e.g. x-ray).
During diagnostic evaluation of a patient's leg or surgery on a patient's leg (e.g., hip or knee surgery), certain positions and orientations of the leg and hip joint may be preferred. For example, during one phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to place the patient's leg in tension (i.e., traction) at an angle with respect to the spine or the pelvis, whereas in another phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to rotate the patient's leg about a certain axis while maintaining traction. Moreover, in some cases, the surgeon may want to maintain traction or a particular rotational orientation of the patient's leg while adjusting the other or adjusting the patient's position on the surgical table.
Most conventional surgical tables designed for use in leg surgeries include a perineal post that is fixed to the table and positioned between the patient's legs against the perineum. The perineal post functions to maintain the patient's position on the surgical table while the patient's leg is pulled inferiorly (i.e., generally away from the patient's torso). This enables the application of inferior traction to the patient's leg by applying tension generally along the length of the leg. However, for some surgeries and diagnostic evaluations, it may be desirable to apply dorsal fraction to the femur to distract the hip joint ventrally. Although conventional surgical tables and associated traction devices enable the application of inferior traction, they provide very limited, if any, ability to controllably apply dorsal or ventral traction to the femur.